MALA IN CUBA /// MALA IN CUBA /// MALA IN CUBA /// MALA IN CUBA

Fuck me, this album is everything. Stream here:

http://soundcloud.com/maladmz/sets/mala-in-cuba-album-stream/

those eerie death horns in "Changuito"

I have to concur.. this is pretty amazing. Remain in Light!

those eerie death horns in "Changuito"

― The Reverend, Saturday, 8 September 2012 07:20 (Yesterday) Bookmark

first listen and just got to this bit O_O

Looking forward to listening to this, feel like it needs the right setting.

Yeah this is fantastic. Finally Mala!

Ooo, excited about this now.

haha, i just came to ILM to post about this.

Listening for the first time - this is yeah pretty awesome

yeah this is cool

gets a lil cheesy in places tho

Changuito is what I imagined jungle would sound like before I actually heard it. Tribal rolling drums.

Oh man, is it possible for a musician to be consistently mindblowing? Mala has been doing this to me since like 2005.

Ghost is special too.

those eerie death horns in "Changuito"

― The Reverend, Saturday, September 8, 2012 6:20 AM (2 days ago)

I have to concur.. this is pretty amazing. Remain in Light!

― matt damon & the jb's (the anephric project), Sunday, September 9, 2012 4:07 AM (Yesterday)

Wow, this is a real treat. 23 Skidoo vibes.

did he actually go to cuba?

http://www.thefader.com/2012/09/06/beat-construction-mala-in-cuba/

cool, i want to go to cuba

Yeah!

totally

Thank ya for the tip, enjoying this.

I agree with everyone ITT who says this is good

man. i dunno.

this record sounds amazing one minute and corny the next, like 'Verve Remixed' vibes. also not in love with the sound of a lot of the instruments.

"revolution" is happening, "ghost" and "curfew" are cool, in fact the back half of the record picks up a lot.

I've kind of always wanted the rhythmic thrust of Pearson's "Wad" and the works of LD (where is that dude and why is he not more popular? should have picked a better name) to became a whole genre -- esp now that it wouldn't be interfering with the development of funky, which was the the best argument against such a thing -- but I'll settle for just one album's worth.

So yeah, there's possibly an element of pandering exactly to my tastes at play here.

Wow, it occurs to me that Pearson Sound/Ramadanman has never gotten his own thread. His new single's just alright and not really worth starting one about tho. :/

perhaps creating one will inspire him to do better in the future.

:D

this record sounds amazing one minute and corny the next, like 'Verve Remixed' vibes. also not in love with the sound of a lot of the instruments.

are you basically saying you don't like it when the music sounds cuban?

Is this Intelligent Latin Dance Music?

lol

I've kind of always wanted the rhythmic thrust of Pearson's "Wad" and the works of LD (where is that dude and why is he not more popular? should have picked a better name) to became a whole genre -- esp now that it wouldn't be interfering with the development of funky, which was the the best argument against such a thing -- but I'll settle for just one album's worth.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 4:26 AM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i guess the funny thing is that dubstep really did have its own pre-funky-before-funky in the form of "Left Leg Out" and a handful of similar tunes, "Wad" was really just connecting the dots.

Maybe associations with things like Buena Vista Social Club (perhaps the only Cuban-based music many of us are really familiar with unless you're a big follower of salsa music) makes a project like this automatically evoke the nineties. There's also a kind of trip-hop vibe given off by a few moments (cool jazzy piano chords, funky congas etc) which adds to this.

But you know what? I actually don't mind all that much. Call me a slave to retro, but this perceived nineties-ness feels more like a natural by-product of this albums hybridisation. And rather than feeling "ugh this is really cheesy and nineties-sounding", I'm actually getting a good vibe off it - just fleeting sips of nostalgia.

I'm kind of pleasantly reminded of things I used to listen to but had nearly forgotten about - Aim's 'Coldwater Music', Andy Votel, maybe even DJ Shadow - but only in places, and there seems to have passed enough water under the bridge to be reminded of these without recoiling in disgust.

are you basically saying you don't like it when the music sounds cuban?

c'mon man. i don't like it when horns and percussion sound really thin, close, and studio-ish. a lot of latin jazz is record in an overly clean & boring way, yeah...is that "sounding cuban"?

(cool jazzy piano chords, funky congas etc)

new dn up for grabs

i don't listen to a lot of contemporary cuban music, maybe i wouldn't like the records. my main relationship to it these days (besides old Fania records) is friends who play salsa/timba/etc live and send me crazy youtube videos sometimes.

I wasn't trying to zing you Jordan, I was being serious.

I don't hear the horns as close or dry or thin at all TBH.

This album fits perfectly next to the LHF album from earlier. It's actually made me appreciate Keepers of the Light more than I did before.

me and v and tim were talking about how good this is in another thread and everyone itt should check out it out, such a great vibe

http://www.residentadvisor.net/images/reviews/2012/silkie-and-quest-dubstep-allstars-vol.09.jpg

has a bunch of Swindle, a Mala track, an amazing remix of "Witches Brew"

Yeah I was listening to it on the way home last night and was reminded of how amazing the Silkie remix of "Withces Brew" is.

Though LOL somehow not all the tracks ended up on my iPhone so there were all these missing bits, but because the transitions are all built around drops I didn't even notice.

DL'd the Mala last night and listened to it twice straight thru. Nice stuff.

How dubsteppy is this record? Latin-tinged dubstep isn't really something I'm wild about as a concept.

Do you like "Left Leg Out" Matt?

How dubsteppy is this record? Latin-tinged dubstep isn't really something I'm wild about as a concept.

Yeah, there's a lot about this record I'm not wild about, the Gilles Peterson connection, the stories of authentico inspirational Cuba, the idea of Mala now travelling the world attaching local sounds to dubstep beats :/

That said, there's quite a few nice tracks on it.

How dubsteppy is this record?

In a Skrillex-y way, not at all.
In a DMZ-ish way, a little bit.
But while, yeah there are dubstep sonic signifiers (140 beats, deep throb bass), and samples of Cuban music too, it kind of falls between neither.

Of course I didn't mean in a Skrillex way. FFS.

I dunno, I can't work out whether this record is too respectful or not respectful enough. I suppose that's the problem you always get with this world music tourism records in that they usually reveal the gulf in musicianship between the two sides. It's rhythmically fantastic but these rhythms deserve so much better than the lumbering basslines they're saddled with. I wish it would stop screwfacing.

You don't really like anything halfstep at all tho iirc?

THIS RECORD RULZ

"Of course I didn't mean in a Skrillex way"

what country should he dubstep next

thought this was kinda boring tbh, some really nice touches but all dragged down a bit

You don't really like anything halfstep at all tho iirc?

Not really no, although this isn't really halfstep because there's so much going on rhythmically. I mean if anything the Cuban percussion samples actually sidestep the usual problems with halfstep beats by filling it all in and giving it some bounce, but the basslines are like tying lead weights to everything.

Skrillexy molly-and-moshpit dubstep >>>>> 4.am. Resident Advisor-surfing chinstroke jerkoffstep

4eva

... where does Mala fit into that algebra?

Not really no, although this isn't really halfstep because there's so much going on rhythmically. I mean if anything the Cuban percussion samples actually sidestep the usual problems with halfstep beats by filling it all in and giving it some bounce, but the basslines are like tying lead weights to everything.

― Matt DC, Monday, September 17, 2012 2:33 AM Bookmark

You've just never understood how dubstep operates as dance music. The problem lies with you, not the music, which is fine as long as you don't blame dubstep for this. For me, dubstep is really fun to dance to, but you have to dance to it completely differently than you would dance to house or something, more like dancing to rap or reggae.

I think I have a problem with his reverb choices, like why does the percussion have to be so dry and tumbling and awesome and everything else sound so hotel lobby-ready

otm, although i wish the percussion had more room sound. basically i wish it sounded like the version of this record that i hear in my head.

but the basslines are like tying lead weights to everything.

funny thing is matt, when i first heard the album it was quietly where i couldnt hear the bass and it all sounded too lite. but when you can hear the bottom end, it totally works as one, well for me at least... mala's weighty dread b-lines and the melodic mid to top ends of the cuban musicians.

yup

Rev OTM - complaining about lead-weight bass is like moaning about 4/4 kicks in house (or something), it's kind of intrinsic to the sound of most dubstep.

This album has just enough edge to pull it away from being "coffee-table" dubstep. I guess I could see it being played in a lot of Amsterdam coffeeshops, and yeah it is a sort of "grown-up" dubstep record (for better or worse), but it's pretty versatile and there are some p dark heavy moments going on throughout.

And yeah, crank that shit up - it's a very different record at loud volumes. From a house perspective it's the same - I didn't think anything of Rej by Ame till I heard it on big-arse speakers and then WOAH!

I like the percussion but everything else is cheeseballs.

― E.I.E.I. (Ówen P.), Sunday, September 16, 2012 8:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

...in a lot of Amsterdam coffeeshops

If only they'd play stuff like this ;)

You've just never understood how dubstep operates as dance music.

That's fine, I understand it, I just don't like it, especially when the percussion on top appears to want to do a different thing entirely. There's probably a separate thread about what different people look for wrt to physicality in music though.

Interview with Gilles Peterson on the Mala in Cuba project here: http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/gilles-peterson-on-mala-in-cuba.html

Co-sign on the importance of loud volume, bass, big soundsystem. That's where Mala comes from obviously, makes a difference.

I've kind of changed my mind on this one I'm afraid. The more I listen to it the more clunky this becomes. I'd have liked to have seen Mala working more collaboratively with the Cuban band rather than merely sampling and rearranging them into the typical dubstep templates.

I don't think Mala's work really qualifies as a "typical dubstep template" in 2012, even if he's responsible for one of the archetypes of the sound.

surprised that the reviews have been so lukewarm for this

I feel like the core of his fans are more on the dubstep/DMZ night end of things and not the Gilles Peterson/"world music" thing so reviews are going to be tilted that way?

http://thequietus.com/articles/10256-mala-in-cuba-review

oh man, reading that made me look up reprazent on spotify, and then I made the questionable choice of listening to the album from 2000

who am I kidding, it was what I wanted

this is awesome and totally not that dubstep at all

it is totally dubstep and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to disassociate it from the rest of dubstep imo

mmm nah you're just saying that, i call bullshit. some moments are more dubstep but there are moments on this album that are 100% not recognizably dubstep, they sound like salsa or something, and there are a lot of them

I think it depends on what people mean by dubstep. This is totally Mala dubstep, but I suspect that these days a lot of people wouldn't recognize old Mala tunes "Left Leg Out" as being dubstep, either.

neways i don't really have anything invested in disassociating this from dubstep, i like mala other stuff

l'important: C'est Dope

Part of the reason this album is a curate's egg is that it sticks so rigidly to the dubstep template throughout the whole thing. You'd think that at this stage in his career Mala would give himself license to break out of the 140 tempo once in a while, because it does drag for the album's duration. These tracks work better on an individual basis than as a whole, which is probably why my initial excitement for it dwindled after a few goes.

If this were a rock band doing a similar thing with Cuban musicians no one would have a problem referring to that as a rock album, even if individual tracks sounded largely Cuban. The basic DNA of this record is still essentially dubstep unless you're really into microgenres.

Goes without saying that rock music has a much wider remit than dubstep which subscribes to a very specific set of rules and signifiers. That said, I never feel as though this record transcends beyond anything more than a dubstep record made with Cuban samples. A successful fusion would have developed something almost entirely new - breaking out of the dubstep mould while utilising the natural groove and feel of Cuban music. Instead it follows the dubstep template stringently while the Cuban samples are manipulated so heavily around this that they almost become irrelevant to the record. I can't help feeling he could have saved on the air miles and just bought a sample kit of bongos, piano and horns instead.
The only by-product of this culture clash seems to be that bits of it remind me of late-90s downtempo stuff like Rae & Christian, Andy Votel etc - an effect I'm not sure Mala actually wanted to achieve, but has unwittingly created all the same.

Goes without saying that rock music has a much wider remit than dubstep which subscribes to a very specific set of rules and signifiers

Only because rock musicians would consciously brought other influences in and stretched those rules. And the rules and signifiers of rock music are less visible to us because we've been exposed to them our whole lives.

Sure, but what I mean is that dubstep, to count as true dubstep, HAS to follow the 140bpm tempo, HAS to involve a modicum of sub bass, almost always subscribes to set rhythmic patterns and a particular type of delay effect, whereas rock music spans everything from Judas Priest to the Strokes - it is a malleable format whereas as soon as dubstep diverges from its strict set of rules, it immediately becomes something else. This is as opposed to other forms of dance, such as house which has a lot more room tempo and sound-wise to move about in. Dubstep's guidelines can only work as an oblique strategy for so long before ideas get exhausted, which is part of the reason trad dubstep is becoming less and less relevant in 2012 while other styles of "partisan" bass are on the up. It feels like Mala is so desperate to cling on to dubstep's few dangling threads before it rides off into the distance; never failing to implement those tempos and signifiers whatever he's doing. And who could blame him for wanting to cling to a sound he helped pioneer? The problem is he comes off like Status Quo playing in the post-punk era; tirelessly hacking away at that old sound while experimenters and game-changers explore sounds that are much more radical than simply "hey I went and recorded a Cuban band and made a dubstep record out of it".

Sure, but what I mean is that dubstep, to count as true dubstep,

stopped reading

Ugh, it doesn't HAVE do do anything, there aren't actual set-in-stone rules.

yeah, that's probably not now Mala sees it though

not how

Then why is the entire album 140bpm?

i'm agreeing with you

ah right, wasn't sure.

Of course I'm not saying dubstep producers HAVE to do anything, but once they do start moving away from the template (as many have been doing these last few years), the dubstep label stops fitting so easily. I'd be at pains to happily class the likes of Blawan, Girl Unit, Rustie, Presk, Tessela etc as dubstep although they all certainly take cues from it. Mala on the other hand is still firmly entrenched in that camp. The idea of diversifying from it is absolutely unheard of. So rather than trying out new things; maybe reinventing his sound through experimentation with tempo, genre, or having a go at something entirely new, he's wound up trying to augment his sound simply by drawing on the Cuban music palette.

I listened in the car yesterday and my bf said "I could buy this for my mom it sounds like Loungey Ibiza" or something but on third listen "Changuito" is really fantastic
Maybe I just don't like that piano?

everyone saying "Changuito" is a high point is otm

yeah it's a good'un. I also like Ghost and Curfew.

...Wishing I'd paid more attention when there was this much dubstep activity here. I think at the time I was just starting to realize that brostep hadn't completely wiped out the original sparse and truly dubby sounds (eg "Midnight Request Line").

I can't help feeling he could have saved on the air miles and just bought a sample kit of bongos, piano and horns instead.

Ouch. Mala In Cuba didn't blow me away at first listen but I should give it another shot. I have been enjoying the Digital Mystikz LP though and this was the only thread for them or Mala I could find. Lately I've also been realizing halfstep isn't ALL bad either which probably contributes to my appreciation for the Return II Space LP.

Sure, but what I mean is that dubstep, to count as true dubstep,

stopped reading

― Mary Ty$ Band (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, October 11, 2012 12:54 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ugh, it doesn't HAVE do do anything, there aren't actual set-in-stone rules.

― Matt DC, Thursday, October 11, 2012 1:10 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

It does have to though. Even compared to other (sub)genres it seems like dubstep has a very specific definition. I think that's being acknowledged somewhat now since styles are being defined solely based on bpm. (Eg "PLAYING A SET OF PURE 140-142 BPM BANGERS!")

yeah i guess the funny thing is that dubstep really did have its own pre-funky-before-funky in the form of "Left Leg Out" and a handful of similar tunes

― Tim F, Tuesday, September 11, 2012 5:35 AM (eight years ago)

Would appreciate more specific recommendations along these lines.

Also worth noting that apparently that in the intervening nine years here, the only notable new development in the "London" sound is the appreciation for African styles. Funky still running things?

(I couldn't even get into a single club in London, Scotland is so much more chill for an American stoner/slacker. The London doormen smelled my sack coming from miles away. Meanwhile in Scotland, jungletech is apparently running things.)

Oh wait I did get into Printworks for Koze. I lied.

I remember writing about this one but not being particularly impressed at the time. It came out while dubstep's cachet was on a downturn, and I just wasn't hearing the vibrancy of the source material working with the sluggy darkness of Mala's dubstep

Would appreciate more specific recommendations along these lines.

Many of these are more "contemporaneous with funky" than pre-funky, but:

Digital Mystikz - Ugly / Neverland / Misty Winter / Anti-War Dub / Alicia
Slaughter Mob - L'Amour
Toasty (or Toasty Boy) - One Life / Splash / One Life / On Something
Ramadanman - Every Next Day / Blimey / Wad (as Pearson Sound)
Boxcutter - Silver Birch Solstice / Philly?
D1 - I'm Loving / D1:V3 EP / Chocolate Orange
Scuba - Sleepa / Braille Diving / Out There
Silkie - Sky's The Limit / Hooby / Mattaz / Quasar / Planet X / The Horizon
2562 - Channel Two / Kameleon
Peverelist - Erstwhile Rhythm / Infinity is Now
Pinch - Joyride / Dr Carlson
Pangaea - Router
Quest - The Seafront / Deep Inside
Untold - Bones

I mean the above is all still obviously dubstep but it's very much on the fleet-footed, bouncy side rather than the trudgy side.

🙏 I’m not worthy

Hold up, I'm Loving is obviously dubstep?

I'm a little slow on the uptake here and initially was trying to think of that definitive funky song that was big enough here at the time for even me to notice it, and now I realize that's the one.

Are you saying it isn't funky mainly cause funky beats are typically four to the floor and this is more of a break/broken beat? I wouldn't call it dubstep at all really, and it makes me wonder if I have the faintest clue in this regard!